Splendid Isolation
by history101
Summary: When the Justice League go up against a shadow that makes things...and people disappear in thin air they are transported to an icy wasteland. When our super-powered heroes find themselves without their powers will they be able to escape...or more importantly, can they survive long enough to escape? Sequel to my other one shots, specifically: 'A new recruit'.
1. It Begins

**Splendid Isolation**

**Chapter 1; It Begins**

* * *

The forest seemed dead. Its trees were sinewy and bare, the ground was black and not a sound could be heard. The sky was pitch black and devoid of stars, the moon shone in its full glory, casting an eerie glow it illuminated the bare trees beneath it.

As Batman ran through the forest the old leaves crunched beneath his boots and his long black cape billowed behind him. He weaved around the trees skilfully and he was flanked by Robin and Batgirl, both of whom were breathing heavily.

"Who's idea was this again?" Robin panted as he leapt over a fallen tree.

"Why? Is little birdie getting tired?" Batgirl smirked despite the fact that she was just as exhausted as her young partner in crime fighting was.

"No!" the young boy cried with a look of indignation.

"Shhh..." Batman silenced them as they saw that they were running into a dead end. He came to a halt and looked around carefully using the night vision his high-tech cowl provided and pulled out a signature bat-a-rang from his belt. His two partners followed his lead and the three crime fighters stood tentatively with their backs to a craggy cliff as they stared into the trees.

The wind gently rustled their capes just as the ground began to quake, then it stopped, then it shook again, almost like an earthquake...or giant footsteps.

"Where is it?" Robin whispered and stared expectantly at the forest, but Batman held up his hand again for silence.

"Bats...you there?" Batman heard the voice of Flash over his com-link.

"Shhh," the caped crusader quietly hushed the speedster.

"We're honing in on your position, Bats," the Flash replied, taking no notice of Batman's wish for silence.

"Well, Batgirl and I would really appreciate it if you were here now...like instead of us..." Robin muttered.

"Batman, the forest, it's something about that place," Martian Manhunter told him over the com-link. "Something in that forest is preventing me from locating you telepathically, and the equipment is all but useless."

"It's something, all right, but I don't think it's the trees, J'onn," Batman replied as the ground began to tremble again.

"What's your situation, Batman? We're nearing the limits of the forest," Superman said with a sense of urgency.

"We're cornered, we ran into a dead end, and something big is headed our way," the dark knight answered.

"What?"

"I don't know," Batman sighed and the ground trembled again, with each quake the intensity was increasing, "but it's no earthquake."

"You think it's responsible for those disappearances?" he heard Diana ask.

"Could be," Superman replied.

"Great, if we pull a disappearing act my math teacher won't be happy with me, I'll get detention for like a year if I miss any more classes!" Robin muttered and took out his bo-staff.

"If we disappear off the face of the known universe I think your math class'll be the least of your worries," Batgirl replied and the two smirked.

The trees in front of them began to shake now, and the branches trembled in fear. A shadow began to descend on them - a shadow of black. It marched on the ground and swarmed across the trees, it seemed to have no body and yet it roared in anger.

It was stationary at the edge of the trees as it regarded the caped crime fighters before it. Then it shone with a dull white light which increased and shone as bright as the moon above it. As it moved slowly forwards anything caught in its path simply vanished in think air, whatever the dark shadow touched disappeared. Trees, leaves, fallen logs rocks, even boulders were no more.

"Superman to Batman, what's your position?" Batman heard on his com-link, but he was too focused on the strange being advancing on him. "Batman, what is your position?!"

Batman threw am explosive bat-a-rang at the shadows but it disappeared and left no explosion in its wake.

"That's not good...is it?" Robin asked quietly as he took a fearful step back. Another loud roar shook the whole forest and the crime fighters were knocked off their feet onto the cold, hard ground.

It quickly seemed to fix on Batman and it moved towards him, he tossed ice pellets and explosives in the vin hope that something would work...but nothing did. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ground and debris of the cliff face fell into the shadows. Batgirl had hurled a bat-a-rang rigged with explosives and it had distracted the beings' attention from Batman.

Unfortunatly for Batgirl this made her the next target and the darkness folded in around her. Batman leapt quickly and managed to get Batgirl away from the shadows, leaving Robin alone. "Uh-oh," he muttered as small shadows swam across the ground towards him.

He flipped and leapt across the ground, avoiding dozens of small shadows without bodies to cast them. Batman, ordering Batgirl to remain behind the trees, crept across the clearing and used his grapple to swing out from a tree to grab Robin. He landed back beside Batgirl as the small shadows grouped together once more.

"What d'we do now?" Batgirl asked hopelessly.

"Batman, do you read me?" Superman shouted through the com-link.

"Little busy right now," Batman tersely replied.

"What's happening? We split up so hopefully one if us will get there..." Superman said quickly.

"I'm not sure yet," he replied and looked up as he heard the wind howl again.

Batman saw Wonder Woman fly in fast enough to give Flash a run for his money, but she wasn't heading for the shadows. The caped crusader reached again for his grapple gun and caught her just before the shadows engulfed her.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Trust me, princess, you really don't want to go near that," he replied.

Within seconds Flash appeared beside Batgirl and Robin behind the trees and Batman landed with Wonder Woman. J'onn and Green Lantern soon followed, and Superman flew in, he attempted to freeze the strange shadows but it was useless, so to was his heat vision.

"Any more bright ideas?" Flash muttered as the super hero landed with them.

Without a word, Batmam threw a bat-a-rang with a tracker into the shadows, and then turned to the other members of the Justice League who had straws in shock as the weapon had vanished.

"Retreat," he declared, but this was met with shocked expressions.

"No," Wonder Woman replied with confidence, "I never retreat."

"There must be something we can do," Superman said, "If we leave we're condemning more people..."

"If we stay, we're condemning ourselves," Batman said harshly, "We can't fight this thing. I threw a tracer in it, if we can find out where the people are disappearing to then we have a chance to prepare. If we stay, the odds that we'll win without casualties are non-existent."

"Bats' got a point," Flash said.

"I don't think he's up for a debate, guys," Robin suddenly said and pointed across at the dark clearing. The ground shook violently again and the trees began to fall, Batgirl was forced to leap out of the way off a falling tree. But she was now standing in the cleaning and the shadows quickly advanced on her.

Batman ran and pushed Batgirl out of the way but not before the shadows had engulfed him - he vanished without trace.

"Batman!" Robin and Batgirl shouted and both nodded to each other. They knew their mentor would not agree with them but he was their partner, so they leapt into the shadows and they too disappeared.

"Oh, boy," Flash muttered as the clearing went deathly quiet.

The trees continued to fall and the heroes were tossed around by the quakes the plagued the ground, all were soon floating in the air with Flash glowing green from Lantern's ring.

"What now? We can't abandon Batman," Wonder Woman said.

"He said he threw a tracer in it, if we can find it..."

"How do we do that?" she asked.

"I know someone who can help, but we need to leave..." Superman said and looked down at the shadows. It was moving along the ground and suddenly it leapt up at them. "Move!" he shouted, but it was too late.

As Batman had been, so too were they swallowed by the shadows, and they knew nothing but darkness.

* * *

A.N. Wow, was that fast paced or what? Instead of a usual boring prologue I decided to jump right into it and just start it off with some action. Please tell me what you thought!


	2. An Icy Nightmare

**Splendid Isolation**

**Chapter 2: An Icy Nightmare**

* * *

Batman awoke to a cold, numbing sensation, his whole body felt frozen despite the fact that his Nomex kevlar, bi-weave survival suit was designed to trap the warmth. He shivered and forced himself to open his eyes.

The Dark Knight was met with pure, white snow, endless fields and mountains of snow. There was an icy wind and it blew his cape across the snow-covered ground as small snow flakes fell from the grey sky. Batman looked around and saw Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, J'onn, Green Lantern, Batgirl and Robin.

"Batgirl, Robin," he stumbled over to them and shook both of them awake. If he was cold they would no doubt have hypothermia, he had added similar materials to their suits to insulate, but not to withstand sub-zero temperatures such as this. "Wake up," he commanded with as much force as he could muster.

"B...bat...batman..." Robin spoke quietly as he pried open his eyes. He felt as though he had been frozen...but when he saw his surroundings, it made sense. "How'd we get here?" the boy asked.

"Don't know yet," Batman replied and lead a half awake Batgirl over to Robin. Then he took off his cape and wrapped it round the two young crime fighters, he left them wrapped in the black fabric while he roused the other League members.

"Argh...if feel cold...in places I...I...never knew I h...had..." Flash muttered and tried to rub his arms but failed.

Wonder Woman was the worst off, for obvious reasons, so Batman lifted her up and carried her while he ordered the others to stand up. After a minute of fumbling around the group managed to walk slowly through the snow.

"Batman..." Superman began slowly, "Something doesn't f...feel right..."

"Not now," Batman muttered, thinking it was the cold. But they were all cold. He tried to locate some form of shelter, a cliff he could use to enclose with snow, or even a cave. The snow continued to fall and it began to fall more heavily and Batman began to curse quietly under his breath has he saw the others start to fall behind.

"Batman..." Wonder Woman said so quietly the caped crusader wasn't sure he heard it. "I...I can't...fly..."

"You've probably got hypothermia, I wouldn't expect you to, princess," he replied quickly.

"N...no...I...I..." she stuttered and shivered in his arms. He turned around again and saw Flash and Lantern leaning against each other, Superman and J'onn were doing the same, with Robin and Batgirl still huddling under his black cape.

He waited for his two young partners to catch up to him and frowned in concern as he saw them. These situations were the ones that made him doubt his decision to allow them into his world, his world of criminals and danger. Not that they hadn't earned their right to fight by his side, but Batman...no Bruce Wayne didn't want to loose them...either of them.

"Come on," he said gently to them.

"B...but it's...c...cold..." Batgirl stammered.

"I...I can't...can't feel...m...my...toes..." Robin stammered.

"I know," Batman sighed, "Just trust me, this is for the best, I promise."

"O...o...okay...B...Bruce..." Robin said with a shaky nod.

They passed several dead, sinewy trees with pointed and broken branches and as the clouds moved with the wind Batman saw a distant planet in the sky. He stared wide eyed at the blue sphere but the others were too cold to notice, so he continued moving.

Within minutes he saw what looked like a dark cave, and without any other options available he forced them to walk towards the cave he could see in the distance knowing that it would be the only shelter they'd find for miles. He walked them deep into the cave, as far from the opening as they could get. Then he placed Diana on the ground between Batgirl and Robin against the wall of the cave and wrapped his cape closer around them.

J'onn and Superman he left with Superman's red cape, and he used J'onn's cape to keep Flash and Lantern warm. He made sure that they were all close together against the rock but even he was still cold.

Lantern lifted his green ring to his face and shook his fist with a frown, "I...It...doesn't work..." he muttered.

Superman tried using his heat vision agains the wall of the cave but he found that he couldn't. "My...p...powers don't work...e...either..."

Batman sighed deeply and leaned back against the wall, he was tired and cold, trapped in an icy waste land and now his allies didn't have their powers. Could things get any worse?

"W...what? H...how...does...t...that...work..." Robin stuttered but he didn't get an answer.

"Stay here," Batman ordered them.

"W...where are you going?" Superman asked.

"To find something to start a fire with," he answered.

"What?!" Batgirl exclaimed.

"My suit's equipt to deal with the cold, and you'll freeze to death if I don't. Now do not leave this cave!" he ordered again and turned round and left the cave. He made for the trees that he'd passed not long ago and tore off large parts of the thin branches.

He ran back and pilled it all on the floor, then left again bringing back more wood and small pieces of the cave wall that he'd hacked off with his sharp bat-a-rang. Unfortunately for him the wood was damp from the snow, but being Batman he was always prepared for anything the world might throw at him. He reached into his belt and pulled out a small object filled with fuel for such emergencies, it was highly flammable and chemically designed to burn for long peroids of time.

Batman doused the wood and scrapped two of his bat-a-rangs together to spark the fuel. It took seconds for the fire to start and he stoked it with another stick as he added more wood to the growing blaze. He left the cave again and brought in even more wood.

Once he was done he turned to the the others and walked across to them, then noticed with fear that most of them were sleeping. "Superman," he shook the man awake, "Stay awake," he ordered and he was met with clouded blue eyes. "J'onn...Lantern...Flash...Diana..." then he shook Batgirl and Robin's shoulders and they too opened their eyes. "You have to stay awake," he told them.

"Why..." Robin asked quietly.

"Just stay awake," Batman replied. He frowned when he saw that Diana still looked worse for the wear, her eyes were barely half open and she couldn't find the energy to speak. He sat beside her under his cape to share his body heat and stared blankly at the cave wall.

Once they were all warm again he would be able to focus on finding out where they were, and finding something to eat. But he could only afford to focus on one thing at a time. At least he'd have plenty of time to think things through in the mean time.

But if he was a betting man he'd bet that they'd be here for some time, being prepared for everything sometimes meant admitting that they had a real problem.


	3. Batman Combat Log 1

**Splendid Isolation**

**Chapter 3; Batman Combat Log #1**

* * *

Combat Log Recording, Day One - Time 23:55

Approximate time spent in cave so far: uncertain. Time of arrival in this world: uncertain.

However, fight ended around 20:00 in woods with unknown opponent before arrival. Ergo, estimated time exposed to cold: an hour. Time spent in cave: under three hours.

Temperature estimation: 5°C to -10°C outside of cave, not helped by storm. Inside cave, at least above freezing.

The cave itself seems earth normal, the weather is reminiscent of the Antarctic or high altitude mountains such as Tibet, Bhutan, or the Himalayas. But the planet seen in the sky suggests alien territory, blue suggests Neptune.

Despite layers of snow - small trees found close to cave: proved essential for fire. No signs of other life as yet. Locating food could prove difficult.

The storm outside continues, makes it dangerous to leave the cave.

Wonder Woman was most in danger of hypothermia, but shows signs of improvement, no signs of lasting damage. Others also seem to be improving.

Superman, Flash, J'onn, Lantern, and Wonder Woman appear to be without their powers, whether this is due to exposure to sub-zero temperatures or outside forces is as yet, unknown.

Most likely their abilities, despite loss of powers provides at least minimum immunity to threat of hypothermia, wind chill and frost-bite. As such, Robin and Batgirl take priority - they continue to drift into and out of coherency as the others. No threat of damage: sleep will only help them.

As per design, Nomex suit proved successful in warding off sub-zero temperatures. Memory cloth cape proving a useful insulator.

No signs of frost bite or hypothermia on own person. Once morning comes searching for food should take priority: due to cold temperates a week of survival without food or water is less likely.

Collecting water will prove difficult, if not impossible, any rivers will be frozen. I have nothing conventional to hold any once thawed by a fire. Possible solutions: gloves are water proof, however, not practical. Curved, plastic rebreather masks could at least contain water, therefore all three are filled with snow and thawing. However, not practical for drinking until boiled - further problems: nothing to withstand boiling point...Still not practical solution for eight people.

Relevance of location on missing persons case: Does this place have any link to the disappearances? The probability is high, but if victims vanished as we did, and were sent here the odds of their survival are low.

How were we sent here? The creature appeared to be a shadow, that could, at will, dispose of people or objects, presumably here. Nothing had any effect.

Link: Shadow Thief, Midway City. Similarities in powers, however no identifiable motive.

Previous Victims, excluding Justice League all different professions - teachers, one high school, male, middle aged, Caucasian, no criminal record. Second: teacher - college, female similar description. Third: police officer - female, mid 20's, beat cop, also Causasian. Fourth: university student - male, promising mathematics academic, Chinese. Fifth: second university student, female, specialising medieval history, Causasian.

Inference: no link or pattern between victims, all backgrounds checked using Batcave computers before departing for mission. Victims were strangers to each other. All, excluding Justice League had no reason to cross paths with, as yet, unidentified being. Impossible to solve case without further information.

Once storm clears the terrain will be easier to plot, will search for possible locations of missing victims.

Time: 00:02 - End Day One, Batman out.

* * *

A.N. I tried to make this sound realistic, some thing I imagine Batman would record. It's not very personal but it's clinical, and scientific, so I think it suits him well. As well as being aware of the situations and the problems they face, he's also going over the case, which I think shows how focused he is and it demonstrates that drive for the mission he has.


	4. Survival 101

**Splendid** **Isolation**

**Chapter 4; Survival 101**

* * *

It was mid morning before J'onn awoke, as a Martian he had some resistance to the cold, but he felt himself unable to change his form, he couldn't levitate from the ground, and he couldn't hear anyone else's mind but his own. Perhaps the loss of his powers had taken some of his immunity with them.

The last thing he remembered was fighting in the forest...then...darkness...and cold...mind numbing cold. He opened his orange eyes and was surprised to see the greyish-brown walls of what was presumably a cave, and he heard the crackling of an open fire.

He flinched back as the sight of the flames met his eyes but calmed as he saw that it was no danger.

"Have a nice nap?" a deep voice asked him. J'onn turned to see Batman leaning against the cave wall, with his elbows resting on his knees, he tossed a small twig into the fire almost absent-mindedly.

J'onn glanced around the cave to see Superman, Green Lantern, Flash, Wonder Woman and Batgirl and Robin resting under their capes.

"You found this cave?" the Martian asked ad Batman nodded. It was only then that J'onn noticed that the caped crusader had removed his cowl, revealing the handsome face of Bruce Wayne. "Little risky, that, isn't it?" he asked.

But Batman didn't answer, instead he pulled his cowl back on and stood up, then he tossed a small black object to J'onn. "What's this?"

"Taser," Batman replied and started to walk out of the cave.

"Where are you going?" J'onn asked, finding it unusual to be unable to read his mind to find the answer.

"To find food," the man said and then left without another word, leaving J'onn alone with his sleeping comrades.

Batman stalked quickly through the snow, and was quickly reminded of the days he'd spent in the far east, days spend wandering the mountains and finding small villages, with stunning temples building into the faces of the mountains themselves.

He had no troubles navigating the snow covered landscape but he found nothing to use as food. Batman had been hoping for at least more plants, maybe some kind of Arctic fox or a frozen river that he could use for fishing. But it seemed that the dead trees he'd been using for firewood were the only plants for miles around.

Trying to use landmarks to remember the terrain was all but useless; as with sand dunes of the African deserts, the snow moved and deceived the human eye. He found nothing like the cave or the dead trees to remember, knowing that they couldn't hide in said cave forever, Batman hoped that he could at least find another shelter, but he didn't.

He checked for the small tracker he had thrown during the fight in the woods and found it using his equipment, it was lying in the snow, he'd had to dig just to uncover it. Using his the small scanner he found that it was covered in a strange residue, most probably from the creature that had transported them here.

Then found that there was something giving off a similar signature to the west, it was possible that it was the creature, or it could be a way out. Batman didn't know which it was, but he'd have to find out. But first he'd need to find food, neither he, nor the League would get far without it.

So he set off into the snow, the small dots on his scanner that signified Batgirl and Robin growing smaller with each step he took.

* * *

"J'onn..." Wonder Woman said quietly after she'd opened her eyes, she felt lethargic and cold, too cold.

"Good to have you back with us," the Martian smiled. Around him the others were already awake and they too smiled at her. She soon noticed that all but the Dark Knight were present in the cave with a crackling fire burning. "He went to find food," J'onn told her seeing that she was looking around at the other heroes.

"Oh," she sighed, and then leaned back against the wall. She noticed that Batgirl and Robin were messing with some kind of radio and smirking ti each other, but she didn't think anything of it. Until she looked down and saw a black cape covering her, "What's this?" she asked.

"It's Batman's," Superman told her with a small smile, "If it wasn't for him we'd have frozen to death out there. I don't have my powers," he said soberingly.

"Nor do I," J'onn said.

"My ring is useless," Green Lantern sighed as he tried and failed to once more to use its power.

Flash tried again to use his famous speed but he ran at normal pace around the cave, "I'm..slow...okay..." he muttered and sat back down by the fire.

Wonder Woman sighed deeply and stared into the dancing flames, she was worried, there was no doubt in her mind that this was a serious situation. She slowly stood up and tried to fly, but she didn't even move an inch for the ground. "Nothing, huh?" Flash sighed.

"No," she muttered and stared down at the silver wrist bands she wore. "How can my powers be gone when I still have these?"

"I don't know," Superman replied, "But we have to find out, let's wait for Batman to come back before we toss ideas around, he might've have found something."

"Let's find out, shall we?" Batgirl asked and raise the finished communicator that she and Robin had, hopefully, just 'd found that the com-links used by the League were useless here, but Batman's technology was more advanced and designed to block out interference so they hoped to have more luck. "Batgirl to Dark Knight, do you read me?"

When no answer came immediately they began to worry, despite the fact that Batman often ignored their calls. "Batgirl to Batman, what's your position?" she asked again, but again there was no answer. "Batman, so help me, if you don't answer the god damn..."

"What've I told you about monopolising the line?" Batman's sardonic voice asked and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"You said not to, but you didn't say anything about the bat-line," the girl replied.

"Not everything has to start with 'bat'," he told her and they smiled.

"When you dress like a bat, and call yourself Batman, it does," she said, "So where are you?"

"Would you like street name or coordinates?"

"Batman..." Robin sighed.

"I'm not far from the cave," he said, "I'll be there soon."

"Did ya find any food, Bats?" Flash asked quickly.

"There isn't likely to be a supermarket here, Flash," Lantern told him.

"Yes, I found food," Batman told them.

"What'd you find?"

"Foxes," the man said and his young partners paled.

"Did he just say...'foxes'..." Batgirl asked them, and Robin nodded, "As in...live foxes?"

"Not anymore, no," Batman said and they could swear he was smirking, "Batman out."

"Batman, wait..." Robin shouted but the line went dead. "He did that on purpose."

"He didn't really mean...real, real foxes...did he?" Flash asked looking concerned.

"With Batman ya never know," Robin sighed.

They took turns waiting at the caves entrance, and all were shocked to see the huge blue planet in the sky. It looked so close, too close. Robin and Batgirl had argued that it was going to crash into them and 'splatter their ashes across the galaxy', but Superman told them it was unlikely to do so.

Wonder Woman had said little, she hadn't gotten used to the ways of man's world yet and now it seemed as thou she was on a different world again. It was a lot to take in.

Currently Superman and Green Lantern were stood leaning against the mouth of the cave as they waited for signs of Batman.

"So, where'd you think we are?" Lantern asked his friend.

"If I had to guess I'd say either the north or the south pole...but that..." Superman pointed towards the huge planet they could see in the sky, "Says otherwise."

"No kidding," Lantern muttered.

"Hey...d'you see that?" Superman asked, and squinted off into the distance, "Is that...Batman?"

"It's either him or some other giant bat thing walking round in the snow," Lantern smirked and the two ran off towards their friend. When they reached him they were surprised to see that he looked frozen and tired.

With one arm over Superman's shoulders and Green Lantern carrying the dead foxes they brought Batman back into the cave and he fell back against the wall by the fire.

"I bet you didn't sleep at all last night, did you?" Superman asked him.

"Couldn't," he replied, "Too risky."

"And how'd you find these?" Lantern asked lifting up the carcasses.

"Don't ask," the Dark Knight sighed. He pulled out one of many sharp bat-a-rangs and went to stand up but Robin and Batgirl stopped him.

"What d'you think you're doing?" the boy wonder asked him.

"You want to eat meat before it's skinned?" the Batman asked with dry humour.

"I'll deal with that," Lantern told him and with difficulty he took the weapon from Batman's hand, then left the cave with the carcasses.

"Make sure you burry the skins..."

"Yeah, yeah..." Green Lantern replied and his voice echoed through the cave.

"And you call me a boy scout," Superman said to Batman with a kind smile.

"Hmm," Batman muttered as Robin gently pushed him to sit on the ground.

"You are a boy scout, big guy," Flash smirked at him.

"So what's Batman?" Superman asked.

"Indian guide," Flash said after a moments thought, and they laughed.

"So, what else, besides foxes, did you find?" Diana asked Batman.

"No identifiable landmarks for at least a 3 mile circumference around the cave," he said tiredly, "I found the tracer I threw in the fight yesterday, it was emitting a signal that I followed to the west. It could be a way out, or it could be that..."

"Monster?" Robin suggested.

"That we fought..."

"That we tried to fight?" Batgirl corrected.

"And I assume you saw the giant planet in the sky," Batman finished.

Within minutes Green Lantern returned with the skinned foxes and secured them to some twigs, leaving them to cook slowly by the fire. He used the water that had thawed in the rebreathers to wash off his hands. "You buried the..."

"Yes, I buried the skins, I know," Lantern said, and Batman stared at him. "What, I watched survival shows as a kid," he shrugged.

"Hmm," Batman murmured.

"That's gonna take a while, isn't it?" Flash asked and gestured to the animals.

"Uh-huh," Lantern nodded as Flash groaned.

"So what now?" Superman asked, after a short silence.

"We can't just stay here..." Flash began unsure.

"Predicting the weather in extreme climates is difficult, if not impossible without proper satellite access. If we left now, without another shelter in mind, we could end up lost in the snow, or trapped in another storm without any landmarks to use as guides..." Batman said with far more confidence.

"But..." Flash tried to say, but Batman's voice was still louder despite his lethargy.

"Not to mention the lack of appropriate clothing for this climate, you may have some immunity, but without your powers you aren't equip to deal with," he added.

"Then what do we do?" J'onn asked.

"You do nothing," Batman told him, "I'll continue to plot the terrain, once I find something suitable we'll move to the west to follow that signal I found."

"Why..."

"I'm the only one with the right equipment to withstand those temperatures for extended periods of time. My suit is designed to deal with that cold, and I have experience in this kind of terrain" he said.

"You do?" Diana asked him curiously.

"Yes," Batman nodded.

"How much?"

"Several years in high altitude mountains, princess," he replied.

"When did you go there?" Flash asked him.

"A while ago," Batman answered cautiously.

"Aww, come on, give us something more than that, Bats. Where'd you do? which mountains?"

"The Himalayas, the Alps, several years in Tibet, Bhutan, then Siberia and Oimekon in Russian winters, and yes, I spent time in the north and south poles as well," Batman told them.

"Man, you get around, Bats," Flash replied.

"Hmm," he nodded in agreement.

They spent the rest of the day telling stories about their adventures in the League while they waited with trepidation for the meat to cook thoroughly before even touching it, let alone eating it.


End file.
